Rain Rain Go Away.....We all know that song from our childhood but I gotta tell you it has taken on a whole new meaning here in the tropics during rainy season! And...the best is yet to come because January is actually the peak of the season so we're not even really there yet.
Tonight we are actually having an amazing thunder and lightening storm. The thunder is so loud that the rain is actually taking second place to it....and it is raining hard people!
The rain really started last night in the middle of the night some time and it lasted pretty much till morning. Not that I was awake for the whole night but on the couple of occasions that I did wake up...it was pouring! By breakfast time the downpour from the night before was nothing more than a few puddles here and there but by mid morning the downpour was in full force again. By lunch time that too was nothing more than a memory and then this evening while we were seated in our outdoor dining area it started up again and tonight looks like it might be another doozy! The lightening is flashing so bright and the thunder is so loud! I don't know that I've ever heard thunder this close...or maybe its more that each clap of thunder lasts longer than I think it will. If we go with the old story of somebody bowling up there in the skies....then this guy is getting a strike every single time! Seriously....We can still clearly hear the distant remains of the last clap of thunder when the next one strikes full force again. And, in between each of those claps of thunder there is another round of blinding lightening. It must be so close! My guess is that it is just over the sea (which is right next to us in Lovina)
Tonight we had dinner as prepared by Gooday. This afternoon Gooday had some time off so he used it to make dinner for us (as planned yesterday). Our meal was a traditional Balinese dish called Betutu which consists of a special little chicken that has been raised completely organically in the village. That little chicken is very little.....maybe not even as big as the Bantam type that we often see running around rural properties at home. This little chicken is known for its good flavour and mostly for the fact that it is so natural and good for the diet. The chicken is stuffed with tapioca leaves and a variety of Balinese spices and then cooked for more than 3 hours.
OMG! Lynda just jumped off the couch and almost out of her skin! There was a crack of lightening at the same time as there as a clap of thunder and all of it happened right here in our yard. I am totally not exaggerating when I say that I actually felt a shock from the lightening and the clap of thunder combined with the crack of lightening hurt my ears. Lynda has her video running now in the hope that something happens again but I think it has moved on a little further away from us now so it is much tamer than it was a minute ago. We can still hear the storm but really it is more just the rain that is dumping down that is the focus. If we want to have coffee and some fruit tonight we're going to have to dodge the raindrops to get over to the kitchen and back again.
Now back to that dinner.....in addition to the chicken we had another plate of tapioca leaves as a veg and lots of rice and extra sauce (that was a little spicy and totally delicious!). We ate every bit of it except for about 1/2 the plate of greens as there were just sooo many of those. It was a first time having tapioca leaves for both of us. I actually didn't even know that they were used as a vegetable but I guess it makes sense as that plant is common and used by everyone in the tropics. For those of you who don't know....tapioca doesn't grow in those little balls we are familiar with. It is actually a long root that looks kind of like a giant parsnip or maybe even more like a big sweet potato. When the plant (that is about 5 feet tall) is pulled up the root is cut off and the stem of the plant can be shoved back into the earth where it will just start growing and available for picking again in a few months. The leaves look a bit like a marijuana leaf and as I said...this is the first I've known that they are also used.
HOLY CRAP! There was another one! Maybe the storm is coming back!! My ears are still kind of ringing from this last one....I'm thinking we should be wearing some safety gear for this!
Gonna sign off for now and just enjoy the light show that is going on in our sky.
Till next time,
L & L
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